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Savannah and AVIA hotel report

We went to Savannah Jan 21-23 with my wife for a getaway weekend. Stayed at the AVIA hotel. I will start this report with a review of the hotel and then add as I get time.
Hope you enjoy the report as much as we enjoyed the trip.

I posted this hotel review on TA titled: The very very good, the bad and the ugly:

Let me make clear that we absolutely loved this hotel! I would come back here in a second.

The good: There are so many great things about this hotel it would be hard to list them all so I'll point out the highlights. The location is arguably the best in the city, very easy walk to everything. The rooms were spotlessly clean and wonderfully appointed. The service was the high point, every single person was beyond friendly and you could tell the staff really wants your stay to be wonderful. Although everyone was great the young lady who made our crepes suzette on Saturday morning breakfast buffet went above and beyond, even writing down her recipe for her out of this world crepes suzette and bringing it to us, wish I could remember her name. Parking is convienently located under the hotel in a garage. I you are staying for two nights go to the visitor center and get a 48 hr. visitors pass for 12 dollars vs. $16.00/day if you pay at the garage and $20.00/day if you valet. Oh yea, when we checked in we were informed that we had been given a complimentary room upgrade, score!

The bad: The coffee maker was dismal and the lack of a sink in the kitchen area made coffee making quite a chore. A minor inconvenience, but if you want to be a top class hotel these little things matter.

The ugly: This is the only point which was really irritating to me (not just here but everywhere). The mini bar! I know I can hear the groans, why do hotels insist on making such an issue out of the mini bar, just get rid of the damn things! This was one of those sensor type ones where if you pick it up you get charged for it. Not only in the little refrigerator but also on the counter there was a little shelf of snacks just sitting out in the open. I was afraid the whole time that I was going to accidentally knock something off and presto bingo I just bought a $24 can of peanuts. Are hotels so hard up for cash that they have to resort to this kind of intimidation to make a buck? OK rant over.

In summation, the AVIA was almost perfect and I would highly recommend it!

Thanks for the report. How about a hotel which charges you a non-refundable $75 just to hold your reservation? No matter WHEN you cancel the reservation they will not refund that money...I know one....

OK on to the trip itself. We arrived in Savannah about 2:30, the exit off of I-16 is a little confusing as we followed the signs to the visitors center which took us all the way to the west side of the historic area. We found the visitor center OK but should have just stayed on 16 all the way to the end. Went in to buy our 48 hour parking pass, and the guy working there said that we really did not need one since all the meters in the historic area were free and the city was not busy. He said we would be able to find free street parking easily. Well I just decided not to chance it and got the pass anyway. Good thing we did since there was not a parking space to be found on the street.

We arrived at the hotel at about 3:00 and they were waiting for us. I went to park the car while my wife checked us in. She was all done when I returned about 15 minutes later and she said that we were upgraded from our Grand Studio suite to a Lux one-bedroom suite, sweet. We are accompanied to our room by the bellman who informed us that we must use our key card to get the elevator to work, nice security touch. We get to our room and it is wonderful. We have a partial view of Ellis square but mostly we are looking at the Lady and Sons building, but nice view of historic area. Nice extremely comfortable king bed and a huge bathroom with a soaking tub and separate shower. With the exceptions noted in my first post, we are extremely happy with our room.

Took a little walking tour of our hotel. First out to the pool area and outdoor patio on the 2nd floor. It was to cold for the pool but there is a really nice fire pit out here as well and some really comfortable looking furniture and cabanas. This would be a great place on a hot summer day. Went down to the bar for our first cocktails of the trip and had a nice conversation with the bartender. The employees at this hotel are extremely friendly and are always asking if they can do anything for you or give some advice on where to go.

This hotel is in a perfect location. Easy walk to city market and river street. Decided to hit river street for some more libation (this will become a trend). Stopped into wet willie’s for some frozen very strong drinks. Oh yea, in case you did not know it Savannah does not have an open container law so if you want to keep moving just ask for a to go cup for your cocktail and be on your way, nice! Wandered around hit a couple more bars and went back to room for some rest a hot bath and well we’ll just leave it at that.

Feeling refreshed it was time for dinner and decided we wanted seafood and ended up at the Cotton Exchange. All I can say is that it was good not great. Wife had blackened Tilapia with grilled shrimp and said it was very good. I had shrimp and crab au gratin and it was a little gloppy if that makes any sense. It tasted OK and was very filling. We were stuffed and decided to walk off our dinner and just wandered around for a while and looked in some of the shops. Ended up at the Bohemian hotel bar Rocks on the Roof. This was a nice lounge on the top floor of the Bohemian with nice view of the river. I was very crowded inside so we took our drinks outside to the patio overlooking the river and it was very cold (30’s) but there was a nice fire pit out here as well to warm up and there were plenty of tables available. After this we were exhausted and decided to call it a night and head back to the room and that very comfortable bed. That’s all for now! Be back soon.